Bush predicted no troop deaths: ally

Page Tools

George Bush has suffered an embarrassing rebellion from the
ranks, with the founder of the conservative Christian Coalition
saying the President had serenely assured him that, "Oh, no, we're
not going to have any casualties" in the invasion of Iraq.

In an interview with CNN, Pat Robertson described a conversation
with Mr Bush shortly before the war in which Mr Robertson voiced
his fears for US troops. "I warned him about this war," Mr
Robertson said. "I had deep misgivings about this war, deep
misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr President, you had better
prepare the American people for casualties'."

However, he said that Mr Bush had replied: "Oh, no, we're not
going to have any casualties."

Mr Robertson, a former marine who competed for the Republican
presidential nomination in 1988, borrowed a quotation from Mark
Twain when he said Mr Bush looked "like a contented Christian with
four aces". "I mean, he was just sitting there like, 'I am on top
of the world'," Mr Robertson said.

"The Lord told me it was going to be A, a disaster, and B,
messy," he continued, adding that he wished that Mr Bush would
acknowledge his mistake.

Democrats pounced on the chance to make Mr Bush contradict the
televangelist, who is a prominent supporter.

"Is Pat Robertson telling the truth when he said you didn't
think there'd be any casualties, or is Pat Robertson lying?" Mike
McCurry, a spokesman for John Kerry, the Democratic presidential
candidate, asked on the campaign trail in Waterloo, Iowa.

"Of course the President never made such a comment," said Scott
McClellan, the White House press secretary.

Karl Rove, Mr Bush's chief political adviser, said that he had
attended the meeting in question between Mr Bush and Mr Robertson
in Nashville in February last year.

He said that he had not heard those remarks. "I was right
there," Mr Rove said.

The rare criticism from Mr Robertson, who otherwise remains an
ardent supporter of the White House, was not the only criticism by
those claiming proximity to Mr Bush.

Six of his relatives have created a website called
bushrelativesforkerry.com dedicated to his defeat. "Because blood
is thinner than oil," the front page says. "Please don't vote for
our cousin."

The six are all descendants of Mary Bush House, sister of
Prescott Bush, founder of the dynasty and George W's grandfather.
None has had contact with the President, although a few knew his
father, the first president Bush.

They accuse their cousin of gross arrogance, a misplaced sense
of entitlement and failing to live up to Christian values.

"As much as I'd like to vote for a relative running for
president, I just can't," writes Hilary House.

But the family feud is unlikely to have anything near the impact
of the criticism from a figure with Mr Robertson's influence on the
Christian right.

He has voiced doubts about the war in the past, but his speaking
out now - less than a fortnight before polling day - may be a
setback for a Republican election strategy that hinges on turning
out 4 million evangelical Christians who stayed at home in
2000.

On Wednesday Mr Robertson did not back away from his comments,
but confirmed he continued to support Mr Bush.